Zipsliding Gus is a ‘Bold Age Pensioner’

Stuart Barber

They say ‘life begins at 40’ - well at 91 ‘years young’ grandad Gus Spowart has something to say about that.

Despite being in his 10th decade, this former soldier and retired planning engineer has no intentions of slowing down!

Gus, from Braemar Place in Stenhousemuir, volunteered to buckle up and zipslide across the River Clyde to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis.

His effort raised £560, with £260 to be donated to the Falkirk branch of the charity.

Proud daughter Susan Cairns explained: “Our mum, Nan, died from MS at the age of 40 in 1969 and dad has supported the MS Society for over 50 years. He had mentioned in the passing he’d be keen to do a zipslide and when I saw it on Facebook and told him about it he was all for it.

“My sister, Margaret, and I were a bit apprehensive and wondered if he would be able to manage, but he did it without hesitation. Margaret and her husband, Colin, and their children Lisa and Jonathan, and me and my son, Harrison, are all really proud of him.

“After the event he said he would like to do it all over again because it was over too fast!”

Gus, who re married but lost his second wife Rosemary to cancer in 2013, served with the Beach Signals and landed in Normandy on DDay +2 and involved in establishing communication links between units as they moved off the beaches. In ‘civvy’ life he worked as a planning engineer with Bison Concrete.

He said: “The zipslide was great fun and I’m delighted I managed to raise so much.”